What if Louise summoned?
by SuperGoldenFroggie
Summary: Various short snippets detailing different familiar summonings for Louise. Each individual chapter is a complete and final stand-alone. The ideas that didn't become stories.
1. Mystic Face

A long, long time (a few months ago) a certain Froggie was browsing the vastness of the internet. In this internet, the Froggie found a story by a certain author and it was called The Hill of Swords by Gabriel Blessing. Despite it's faults, the Froggie very much liked the story so the Froggie sought out other people that had also liked the story. The Froggie found a certain forum where certain other people had also liked the story and there they discussed various ideas about different stories where a certain petite tsundere mage summoned different familiars. The Froggie liked the concept and so the Froggie wrote various snippets and chose to follow through on one and turn it into the story.

But what happened to the snippets that didn't become stories?

* * *

><p>There was an explosion. That much was expected, so no one was particularly surprised about it, not even Louise herself. The resulting black smoke that left their pristine uniforms looking slightly sooty was also expected. This was par on the course so far as Louise's magical aptitude was concern.<p>

What was unexpected was that she had actually succeeded in summoning something. Or, to be more precise, someone. Because standing in the middle of the rapidly dispersing black smoke was a man.

And what a MAN he was.

Louise felt her face grow hot as she started to blush. He was PERFECT. That dark hair, styled back so haphazardly that it made him look both rakish and dashing. Those serious and melancholy golden eyes, so piercing that they seemed to stare into her very soul, beneath fine yet valiant eyebrows. Those stern and handsome features that gave him a stoic and intrepid air. His jawline was straight and perfect, as was his nose. Her breathing was ragged and she could feel herself start to pant as she gazed up at his face but she did not care because he! was! PERFECT! She wished that this single moment could last an eternity so that she could gaze upon his features forever.

But reality intruded itself violently upon her wishes as she found herself rudely shoved out of the way as Kirche literally jumped on her familiar and deftly wrapped herself around him as if she were part snake.

"TAKE ME NOW!" the germanian girl shrieked at the top of her lungs. She was also red at the face and panting heavily as she fumbled to undo the buttons of her shirt without somehow letting go of the startled and increasingly nervous man she was latched on to with a death-grip.

Louise, on the ground, spluttered in inarticulate rage as she searched for her wand. That... that... that villain! How DARE she? "Get off him!" she shouted at her red headed nemesis, "He's my familiar! MINE! I summoned him!" She raised her wand and prepared to blast the red-head (Thank the Founder for explosions!) when she blinked. Kirche had let go of the MAN with a yelp as a huge shard of ice streaked past where her head had been only seconds prior. That's funny, Louise thought as bafflement momentarily superseded the red haze of her thoughts, I don't remember ever succeeding at an ice spell.

The answer to that query made itself apparent as Louise noticed that Tabitha had somehow surreptitiously wrapped herself around the tall mans legs as an icy prison sprouted around the prone Kirche. The blue haired girl's face was so red that Louise would've been concerned for the smaller girls health if she were not feeling so murderous right now.

"Love," Tabitha said in her usual monotone, but somehow managed to blush even harder after her proclamation.

"GET OFF HIM!" Louise roared like a demon as she discarded all thoughts of magic and tried to pry Tabitha physically off her familiar. Somehow, the smaller girl proved remarkably strong, as Louise failed to dislodge her, instead somehow managing to raise her to float parallel to the ground by her legs as Tabitha maintained a vice like grip around the mans legs with her thin arms.

"NO FAIR!" Kirche shrieked like a banshee as she struggled against the ice that encased her all the way up to her neck, "TABITHA! TABITHA! We're friends! Release me, Tabitha! HE'S MINE!"

As Louise struggled to physically pry Tabitha from her familiar and Kirche screamed obscenities, somehow Montmorency and the rest of the gathered female students, of which there were plenty, had descended into a massive melee from which occasional shrieks of "MINE!" and "BITCH!" and "DIE!" could be heard.

The male part of the crowd, for their part, cowered in terror as lethal magic the sort of which most definitely was NOT taught in school flew over their heads. This, they all somehow thought simultaneously, is hell.

The man who had unleashed hell upon Tristain sighed with a very put upon manner and raised his hands to the heavens as if cursing god.

"Anybody have a scarf I could cover my face with?" Diarmuid of the Lovespot asked in a long suffering voice, "Or a bag. I could really use a brown paper bag right about now."

There were no fatalities that day, but not for part of the girls not trying hard enough.

* * *

><p>Zero no Tsukaima is the property of Noboru Yamaguchi and Media Factory.<p>

Fate/Zero is the property of NitroPlus and TYPE-MOON.

I claim no ownership of the characters featured in this story. This is a work of fan-fiction.


	2. Maid Perfect

A long, long time (a few months ago) a certain Froggie was browsing the vastness of the internet. In this internet, the Froggie found a story by a certain author and it was called The Hill of Swords by Gabriel Blessing. Despite it's faults, the Froggie very much liked the story so the Froggie sought out other people that had also liked the story. The Froggie found a certain forum where certain other people had also liked the story and there they discussed various ideas about different stories where a certain petite tsundere mage summoned different familiars. The Froggie liked the concept and so the Froggie wrote various snippets and chose to follow through on one and turn it into the story.

But what happened to the snippets that didn't become stories?

* * *

><p>It began with an explosion.<p>

Well, several explosions to be precise.

Louise Francoise La Blanc de La Valliere hated explosions so, in her opinion, this was not a good way for her attempts at summoning her familiar to go. In fact, it transcended frustrating and headed straight into downright infuriating. She ground her teeth and could feel herself start to blush in humiliation as the jeers and japes began to spew forth from the crowd. Everyone else had succeeded in their first try except for her. Her first try just produced an explosion and a slightly charred patch of grass and soil. Sacred, beautiful, strong and peerless familiar? Nowhere in sight. The ensuing attempts had produced identical results, different only perhaps by the fact that the grass was slightly more charred after each explosion.

Once more, Professor Colbert coughed slightly as the smoke cleared and gave her a small nod letting her know she should try again. The pink haired girl grit her teeth, gripped her wand even tighter, and tried her best to ignore the insults which were being leveled at her. She took several deep breaths and, having collected herself, she raised her wand again and intoned once more:

"My familiar who lives somewhere in the universe! Oh sacred, beautiful, strong and peerless familiar! I call you here, pleading from my heart! Answer to my voice!"

And as she flicked her wand, another explosion was her reply.

However, this time was different because sitting atop the very charred earth amidst the rapidly dispersing smoke, looking slightly sooty and very bewildered, was a maid. Not one of the school maids, her uniform was ever so slightly different, but a maid none the less.

The ensuing laughter was thunderous.

"A servant! She summoned someone's servant!" and other such similar comments started to ring out from the crowd in between howling peals of laughter. Professor Colbert looked completely at a loss as to what to do. Louise could do nothing but blush harder and glare at the startled looking maid. She really was a pretty thing, with eyes and hair of a dark chestnut color. Unlike the maids at the school, her maid uniform was of a royal blue color instead of black and her cravat was wine red instead of yellow, held in place by a small and tastefully cut emerald gem. Her features were refined, beautiful even, if somewhat on the mature side. If not for the maid uniform she might have confused her for some highborn lady. But now was not the time for such thoughts. Instead, between clenched teeth, she ground out a question at the maid who was looking around at the sneering crowd with a disapproving look.

"Who are you?" Louise asked, her voice strained, "Whom do you serve, commoner?"

"Ara, Nagi-chan? Is this some sort of cospl-" the maid asked turning towards to her voice, "Oh... was that you? I'm sorry, you sound just like Nagi-chan."

Louise, somehow, managed to marshal her temper and spoke in an even tone once again, "Who are you? And whom do you serve?"

The maid was on her feet, dusting off her apron with one hand. She was ever so slightly taller than Louise, about the same height as the rest of the girls of the class, but not quite as tall as Kirche or the various boys. At hearing the pink haired girls question, an inquisitive look crossed her face and she placed a finger to her chin as she looked hard at Louise.

"You really do sound just like her," her low whisper could not hold back the surprise that was obvious in her voice. Suddenly realizing that she had once again not answered the question, or perhaps seeing the snarl that crossed Louise's face, the maid let out a startled gasp, gave an elegant curtsy, and said, "Ah, I'm sorry! My name is Maria. I serve the lady Sanzenin Nagi."

"Sanzeninagi? Never heard of her," Louise replied in a huff. The laughter from the crowd was dying down now and some where actually taking the time to see the interactions between the Zero and her maid familiar. Really now! A maid? How bizarre is that?

"You really do sound just like her!" Maria said excitedly once again, clasping her hands below her chin. The astonishment which had been evident in her voice before had not diminished in the slightest. Louise was about to berate her for comparing her to some no name noble when her thoughts were derailed by Kirche, who had walked up to the two of them. The taller germanian girl was gasping for breath and clutching at her stomach, she had been laughing so hard.

"Oh, Louise, Louise! You really do know how to make the most impressive failures! Truly deserving of the name Louise the Zero!" she sneered down condescendingly at the shorter girl who could do nothing more than splutter in indignant rage and turn a shed of red most tomatoes would envy. Neither of them noticed the disapproving looked that crossed the maid features. They did, however, notice when she placed her hand on Kirche's shoulder, forcing the red-haired girl to whirl around in surprise.

The maid known as Maria had a smile on her face.

A big, wide smile.

"What do you want, old hag?" Kirche asked off handedly, shaking the hand off her shoulder in disdain. Normally, Kirche was not a particularly rude girl, except where it came to teasing Louise, but somehow the pretty maid set her teeth on edge. Not only had Louise summoned a servant to be her familiar, but a particularly rude one, to place her hands upon a noble so brazenly.

The smile on the maids face got wider somehow at hearing Kirche's words.

"I was going to say that belittling other people and calling them names isn't very nice, miss," the maid stated in a voice that was calm. Eerily calm. Disturbingly calm. Terrifyingly calm. It made Kirche's irrational anger turn to nervousness for some reason. "But, really! Calling a fresh seventeen year old like me an 'old hag'! Now, that is just plain rude! Wouldn't you agree?"

That brilliant, radiant smile got wider again somehow and Kirche felt a horrible sense of impending doom that she had not felt since she had broken her mother's favorite vase back when she was seven. She felt like a rodent, caught in the snakes gaze. Like a bug about to be squashed underfoot. She gulped and took a step back, putting Louise between the maid and herself. Louise was looking a shade paler than normal herself.

"Ahahaha," Kirche laughed nervously while using the fidgeting Louise as a human shield, "Ah, yes, you're right! I don't know how that slipped out! Seventeen! Definitely seventeen! Don't you agree, guys?"

The gathered students, as one, nodded. That smile was terrifying! Absolutely! That maid was surely seventeen!

Seeing the unanimous agreement the students had arrived at, Maria once again clasped her hands below her chin and smiled beatifically, saying, "Ah! I'm glad we understand each other! It's not nice to call young girls such hateful things, is it?" The gathered crowd nodded once again. There was a moment of awkward silence as the nervous students stared at the maid and she smiled calmly at them in return. The moment was interrupted by a cough from the bespectacled Professor Colbert.

"Ms. Valliere," the professor spoke in an even tone, calling the attention of everyone to him, "as exciting as it might be to summon such a ... unique familiar, I'm afraid you must continue the ceremony."

Louise blanched and stuttered out a reply in an incredulous and shrill voice, "W-w-with h-h-her? Y-you must be joking! I refuse!" She huffed indignantly and crossed her arms over chest defiantly as she purposefully looked away from both the crowd and the maid. Kirche, still hunching behind the shorter pink haired girl so as to make herself a smaller target for the maids smile, got a wicked grin on her face.

"But Professor Colbert," she said in a sing-song voice as she pushed Louise forward towards the maid, "isn't this a sacred ritual? A time-honored, ancient tradition?"

The professor nodded sagely as Louise spluttered unintelligible objections.

"That is correct, Ms. Von Zerbst," he said, "It's a sacred tradition and, also, the next class is about to start soon. So if you could please proceed, Ms. Valliere? I'm afraid you've help up the rest of the class long enough." His tone was full of authority and finality.

Louise, however, was having none of it.

"P-professor! It's not r-r-right! It's indecent!" she sounded frantic as Kirche gave her another little push towards the bewildered looking maid. Louise's eyes were wide and she was both blushing furiously and sweating profusely as her voice became a shrill screech, "P-P-professor! Please! She's SCARY!"

Maria scowled at her and the crowd of students flinched as one. Louise emitted a small "Eep" and even Kirche stopped in her attempts to push the smaller girl forward. The maid's scowls were scary too!

"That will be quite enough, Ms. Valliere," Professor Colbert said in a slightly aggrieved tone while rubbing his forehead, his patience having reached its limit, "continue the ceremony or the headmaster will be hearing about this."

"Excuse me, what's going on?" Maria asked in a deferential tone that went ignored by all those gathered in that field. The gathered crowd of students was muttering excitedly amongst themselves, particularly the boys. Louise, for her part, had a look on her face like that of a woman condemned. She took a mechanical step forward and then another and another. Louise stopped a pace before the slightly taller maid. She raised her wand high above her head and looked at the maid with a look that was resigned and slightly panicky.

"Forgive me for this," she said to the baffled looking maid. Closing her eyes, she continued in a more confident tone, "My name is Louise Francoise La Blanc de La Valliere. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being, and make her my familiar."

Gently, as if she were afraid of what were going to happen, she touched Maria lightly on the forehead with her wand.

"..." went the crowd and the maid.

And then, lightning fast, before Maria could react, Louise raised slightly on her toes and kissed her full on the lips.

"OoOoo!" went the crowd of boys and Kirche.

Quickly, as if burned, Louise retracted her lips. Making hacking noises while muttering "Indecent" she wiped at her mouth with the back of her arm. Maria, for her part, stood ram-rod straight and perfectly still, almost as if petrified. She started to tremble and Louise, noticing this, started to slowly back away.

The situation did not last very long.

Maria started to cry and splutter as she fell to her knees.

"M-m-my f-first k-k-kiss!" she wailed inelegantly as tears streaked down her face, "H-how c-could you? To steal a fresh, young seventeen years old first kiss!"

"Well, well, you failed 'Summon Servant' many times, but you managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' in one try," Colbert said clinically. The crowd of students and Louise just stared at him wordlessly.

"WAAaaaaah!" Maria sobbed and hiccupped while rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hands to try and fight the tears. "My first kiss!"

* * *

><p>Zero no Tsukaima is the property of Noboru Yamaguchi and Media Factory.<p>

Hayate no Gotoku is the property of Kenjiro Hata and Shogakukan.

I claim no ownership of the characters featured in this story. This is a work of fan-fiction.


	3. Dark Heroine

A long, long time (a few months ago) a certain Froggie was browsing the vastness of the internet. In this internet, the Froggie found a story by a certain author and it was called The Hill of Swords by Gabriel Blessing. Despite it's faults, the Froggie very much liked the story so the Froggie sought out other people that had also liked the story. The Froggie found a certain forum where certain other people had also liked the story and there they discussed various ideas about different stories where a certain petite tsundere mage summoned different familiars. The Froggie liked the concept and so the Froggie wrote various snippets and chose to follow through on one and turn it into the story.

But what happened to the snippets that didn't become stories?

* * *

><p>SPOILER WARNING: The following snippet contains MASSIVE spoilers for episode 12 of Ga-Rei Zero<p>

* * *

><p>Louise had known to expect failure from her summoning spell. She had never succeeded even at the simplest levitation spell before so she knew, deep in her heart, that her familiar summoning spell would also fail and result in her own humiliation. Louise half expected her spell to result in an explosion, only to find a commoner or something equally preposterous standing in the middle of the blast. Louise had not been prepared for the blinding flash of white light that had forced her to shut her eyes. She certainly had not been prepared for finding herself in an unfamiliar forest, bathed by moonlight once she reopened her eyes, either.<p>

"W-what happened?" she asked out loud, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice, "Am... I dead? Did I finally kill myself with an explosion?" The eery forest did not answer her questions and Louise was forced to gulp nervously as she realized she was alone. Whatever had happened once her spell failed it had separated her from the rest of her class and tossed her into a strange place with only one moon hanging in the heavens. Her eyes widened in horror as she gazed up at the silver orb that hung large and full in the middle of the dark night sky.

"One moon?" she whispered breathlessly as her brain processed what she had just seen, "There is only one moon!" Panic began to creep into her consciousness and she felt tears begin to form in the corners of her eyes. If her spell had not killed her, it had tossed her into an alien world with only one moon. "W-what is going on?" she yelled at no one in particular, trying to fight her growing terror with anger, "W-whoever did this, it's not f-funny! I am Louise Francoise La Blanc de La Valliere! I wont s-stand for your tricks!"

Again, silence was her only answer and Louise fought hard to choke back a sob. Alone in and alien world, and with no magical talent to protect her. Her thoughts turned dark and morose as she contemplated the hopelessness of her situation, until they were rudely interrupted by a voice that seemed to float in from somewhere further ahead.

"Are you prepared?"

The voice belonged to a woman and it both was light and heavy, both sultry and familiar, and both amused and saddened.

She grabbed at it like a life-line and began to run towards it as fast as she could. The forest blurred around her as she ran and stumbled her way towards the voice. Branches and roots attempted to topple her, but she payed them only passing attention. There was someone else here! Someone else who spoke the same language in this alien world with a single moon! As she ran a new voice also floated towards her. She was near, she could tell. The new voice sounded a lot closer than the other one had.

"I will kill you," the new female voice stated simply. It was a cold voice. It would have reminded her of Tabitha's emotionless monotone if not for the fact that this new voice betrayed a deep and terrible sadness. "It is our job as exorcists to exterminate those who spread the taint of death into the human world."

With a final grunt of exertion, Louise broke into a clearing in the forest. It was enveloped completely in the light of the single moon, bathing the branches of the trees, the grass, and the rocks with a melancholy silver glow. Two women stood there, no, a woman and a girl, and they were both armed with strange blades of a type Louise did not recognize. They also acted as if a strange person had not suddenly walked into what was obviously a duel to the death.

"Hey!" she shouted at them in between ragged gasps for air, "Who are you? Where are we? What's going on?" She was practically shrieking at them at the top of her lungs in between exhausted gasps for breath, but neither of them payed her any heed. It was, Louise realized, almost as if she were invisible to them.

"Yes, that's right," the first voice she had heard said in satisfied tone. It belonged to the woman, she realized. She was tall and elegant, dressed in a strange black shirt and pleated skirt much like her own uniform. Her long black hair framed her pale face exquisitely and it was tied in a long pony tail at the back of her head. Her sword had a long red hilt and a black tinted blade. She continued speaking, completely ignoring Louise, "Come, Kagura."

"I'm coming, Yomi," the girl identified as Kagura said again in her cold, not quite monotone voice. She was also dressed in a black pleated skirt but her strange shirt was white, in comparison to the newly identified Yomi's black. Her dark hair was cropped short and it made her look almost as young as Louise and very cute. Her sword had a black hilt and the blade was uncolored.

And with no further words spent between them, they rushed at each other, strange blades whistling in the wind, seeking blood.

"STOOOOP!" Louise shrieked at them as loudly as she could, but again they acted as if she simply wasn't there. She had found two other people, humans like her even, in this strange world and they were more interested in killing each other rather than helping her! "Stop, please," she begged between sobs in a low voice as her exhausted knees finally made her fall to the ground, "Don't kill each other... help me..."

They neither stopped nor did they turn to help Louise. The continued to fight, ignoring the uninvited guest to their duel. They moved around each other like a violent storm, their swords rending the air with the shriek of steel. There was not a single moment of rest in that beautiful whirlwind of death as black and white raced around each other like lightning. They were evenly matched, Louise realized. She was watching two sword masters go at each other with no reservations, only a single-minded intent to kill, to spill the others blood. Yomi and Kagura crossed each other, deflecting the others strike with an almost deafening clash of blades, and quickly turned around, their swords clashing a new. Their blades locked together as the woman in black and the girl in white both sought to overpower their opponent and force an opening.

"I love you," Kagura said. Her voice was no longer cold or monotone at all, and it now only reflected a sadness which made Louise's heart catch in her throat. The girl in white, Kagura, sounded like she was on the verge of tears and, true enough, as Louise looked at her face she saw that her blue eyes were shining with tears that she dared not let loose. "I love you," Kagura said again and her voiced brimmed with affection, "Big sister... Yomi."

Yomi's eyes widened slightly at Kagura's words, but the declaration had no further effect that Louise could see on the black-clad woman. With a final push, they separated from each other and shifted their grips on their swords slightly. Louise could tell... these two had fought each other many times before. They knew each others style perfectly, as each strike was masterfully deflected at a speed that was difficult for her eyes to follow. Yomi and Kagura met again and again, the steel of their blades ringing in the terrified noble girl's ears. They were evenly matched, they knew how each other fought. The one to die would be the first one to make a mistake.

Kagura made that mistake.

A high, slashing two-handed strike from Yomi was artfully deflected by Kagura with a simultaneous slash that came in low to meet the blade that would've carved her from shoulder to hip, forcing Yomi shift her grip slightly again. However, Kagura had not been expecting such a powerful slash and her own sword was forced back further than she had expected, forcing her slightly off balance so as not to topple backwards with her sword. Yomi did not hesitate and her black blade came in, lightning fast, like a flash of shadow across the moonlight, towards Kagura's neck. Kagura barely ducked under it, saving her life in the process, but now the tide of battle had shifted. Kagura, off balance and stumbling, tried to slash at Yomi but her frantic and desperate attack was almost contemptuously deflected.

"I saw through that!" Yomi yelled, genuine anger lacing her voice and making Louise flinch in between her hoarse sobs, "I already taught you! A simultaneous strike is a loss!" With unbelievable force, Yomi struck again and this time her slash shattered Kagura's own sword, forcing her to once again duck low, these time to avoid the steel shards of her own blade. Louise did not even have enough strength left to scream out anymore so she merely watched with wide fearful eyes as the black clad woman prepared to execute her own sister. And then something even more terrifying happened.

In the middle of Yomi's forehead, something started to emerge, almost as if called forth by her anger laced voice. A red gem that glowed with an almost palpable evil. The red gem made Louise feel a wave of nausea and she struggled not to vomit. With the gems appearance, strange shadows danced on Yomi's face and her purple eyes hardened further. "This is the end!" Yomi shouted raising her blade high to kill the prone girl in white, and Louise could almost feel the hate in her voice strangling her. The black haired woman's voice had been teasing, and sad, and angry, and happy, but there had been no hint of hate. Not until the red gem, Louise realized. The red gem was to blame for the hate. It was probably to blame for the duel between the sisters too, she thought.

Yomi's sword came down.

And it was over in an instant.

As the black blade shrieked through the air, the prone Kagura pulled a golden ceremonial dagger from a small sheath under her skirt and quickly dived in low towards her taller opponent. Louise watched with horror as Yomi's shoulders slumped, her eyes softened, and a happy smile crossed her face. And Kagura's dagger struck true, impaling Yomi in the middle of her chest with a sickening sound that Louise was certain would haunt her nightmares for years. The red gem shattered then and Yomi's black blade clattered to the ground. The two sisters stood together like that for the briefest of moments, before the taller woman's legs gave out, dragging the smaller girl with her into a kneeling position.

"You've become strong, Kagura," Yomi said in a hoarse voice barely above a whisper, "You've become really... strong..." Her soft voice was proud and pained. Each new word was a struggle. "I'm truly proud... to call you... my little sister..." Yomi was stroking the smaller girls head affectionately while Kagura's wide and horrified eyes started to overrun with tears as small sobs shook her frame. "I'm... sorry, Kagura," Yomi apologized, her voice laced with regret. Louise, however, could see a smile tug at the black haired womans lips from her position and see her eyes filled with so many emotions that it was overwhelming.

"I love you," Yomi said.

And as the black haired girl toppled backwards, Kagura started to weep in earnest, while Louise screamed at the top of her lungs in impotent anger and sadness.

And the world was swallowed in a blinding flash of white light once again.

Louise had known to expect failure from her summoning spell. She had never succeeded even at the simplest levitation spell before so she knew, deep in her heart, that her familiar summoning spell would also fail and result in her own humiliation. Louise half expected her spell to result in an explosion, only to find a commoner or something equally preposterous standing in the middle of the blast. Louise had not been prepared for the blinding flash of white light that had forced her to shut her eyes. She had not been prepared to find herself in an alien world with a single moon. She certainly had not been prepared for finding herself an invisible and unheard spectator to a duel to the death between two sisters.

But all these things had happened and now she found herself back in the Academy, the sun warming her shaking body instead of the moon, amidst a gaping crowd of students that had seen her flicker in and out existence like a phantom for several breathless minutes as she ran and screamed and cried at things they could not see. She was back, her eyes puffy and red from tears, her throat strained and raw from crying and yelling, and she was not alone.

Because in the ground in front of her, with a golden dagger in her chest, was a black clad woman with a widening pool of blood beneath her, a strange black tinted blade only inches from her hands.

"Save her," she said in a small voice without looking up at the increasingly fearful muttering crowd of students that surrounded her. Her hands were clenched into fists of rage and anger. Could they not see that Yomi needed help?

"SAVE HER!" Louise roared at them, whirling around in a rage, her long pink hair billowing behind, "SAVE HER!"

Then exhaustion took her and she knew no more. And in her restless dreams and nightmares, Louise wondered if she would ever have the courage to kill someone she loved, because of love.

* * *

><p>Zero no Tsukaima is the property of Noboru Yamaguchi and Media Factory.<p>

Ga-Rei Zero is the property of Hajime Segawa and AIC Spirits.

I claim no ownership of the characters featured in this story. This is a work of fan-fiction.


	4. King of Knights

A long, long time (a few months ago) a certain Froggie was browsing the vastness of the internet. In this internet, the Froggie found a story by a certain author and it was called The Hill of Swords by Gabriel Blessing. Despite it's faults, the Froggie very much liked the story so the Froggie sought out other people that had also liked the story. The Froggie found a certain forum where certain other people had also liked the story and there they discussed various ideas about different stories where a certain petite tsundere mage summoned different familiars. The Froggie liked the concept and so the Froggie wrote various snippets and chose to follow through on one and turn it into the story.

But what happened to the snippets that didn't become stories?

* * *

><p>"Just you wait and see!" Louise had shouted hotly at them, "I will summon the greatest familiar of all! A being sacred, beautiful, strong and peerless to be my servant!"<p>

Lying in her bed the previous night, she had regretted those words. She had regretted them dearly as she tossed and turned in bed, haunted by the nightmares of her constant failures and the further humiliation that her empty boast would no doubt heap upon her. Every spell she had ever cast had ended in failure. Why should this time be any different? It wouldn't be different. She would fail to summon a familiar, she knew. What happens to a mage that cannot summon a familiar? The petite girl did not know and the thought made it so she could do nothing but tremble in her sheets and sob against her pillow.

"They'll laugh at me," she thought morosely, "They'll mock me worse than ever before, belittle me, and maybe even expel me." Her thoughts had continued their increasingly dark path, robbing her of her sleep and rest until she could stand them no longer. It was at this point, when she was on the verge of renewed tears that she had jerked upright, and clambered out of bed, her decision made.

"I'll go to the library," Louise had decided, "I'll review the spell. I'll commit every word, every nuance, and every flick of the wand to memory. I cannot afford to fail, not again."

She had dressed herself in her uniform and cape, lit a candle, and silently traversed the empty stone hallways of the castle into the desolate library. She had poured over the books on familiar and summoning lore until she had found one book that she had not seen before, tucked in the back of a shelf, fallen behind two other tomes. Curiously she had pulled it free from its spot and read through its pages. It detailed a summoning spell, not the traditional one, but a summoning spell none the less. And here her eyes had widened at what she read and what the spell promised to do.

"This... this is it!" she had crowed happily to herself as she ran through the hallways back to her room, tome clutched tightly against her chest. She had spent the rest of the night studying the tome fervently and so we arrive at our current situation.

The Spring-time Familiar Summoning Ritual.

Standing outside the castle proper, on the empty fields leading up to the school, the rest of the second year class had already summoned their familiar spirit, their inseparable life servants. The other students had an array of animals both mundane and occasionally fantastic. Owls and cats and dogs and parrots and a bugbear, an unicorn, a cockatrice, a salamander and a dragon. All had summoned, except for one. Louise Francoise La Blanc de La Valliere had nervously tittered on the edge of the crowd without attempting her spell until she was called out by her eternal nemesis, Kirche.

"Well," the germanian noble had taunted haughtily as she crooned over her familiar, "think you can summon something greater than this boy?" She patted her salamander on its back and the reptile croaked happily, the flame at the tip of its tail burning brighter for a moment.

"Easily," she had replied with a confidence she did not really feel. She knew the spell by memory now, but would it work at all? It was not the traditional summoning, she knew, but would this unusual spell really be enough to help her gain even a shred of respect her from her peers? She shook her head, banishing these thoughts, and stepped forward, without deigning to give the other girl a look. She schooled her face into a cold mask. Louise took a deep breath. Then she kneeled and, with the tip of her wand, began to draw on the ground. The crowd of students and the overseeing professor, Mr. Colbert, stared at her dumbfounded.

"Uh... Miss Valliere," the professor had been the first one to disturb the uneasy silence that had overcome the crowd by posing the question in everyone's mind, "what, pray tell, are you doing?"

"Summoning," the pink haired girl had replied without lifting her eyes from her task. Satisfied with her circle and runes, she had clasped her hands in prayer, her wand held tightly between her hands, and spoke in a voice too low for others to hear. Once her long incantation was completed, she raised her wand high above her kneeling body and then lowered it one swift motion.

And the world exploded.

This was a common occurrence when Louise attempted to cast any spell, but this time the explosion was enough to dwarf all her previous ones. Rocks and dust flew every where, pelting the other students as they cried out it equal measures annoyance and fear. A thick black smoke hung low at the site of detonation, lazily dispersing itself into the early morning sky. And of the summon circle that Louise had inscribed on the ground only a charred looking crater remained.

An empty crater.

Louise felt like she could die. If she hadn't already been knocked flat on her rump from the force of the explosion, she would've no doubt fallen to her knees in despair at her failure. "Holy Founder," she thought dejectedly, "strike me down so that I won't have to go back home a failure."

Lightning struck, much to Louise's horror. A bolt of lightning, from the clear skies, struck the place where her circle used to be blinding everyone. The resulting crack of thunder that followed startled everyone as they sought to protect their ears. Another bolt of lightning, and another. Louise had no doubt in her mind that if she could see her own face she would find that her eyes would be wide with abject terror. After five strikes, the lightning stopped and the last resounding clap of thunder was rapidly fading from everyone's ears. It was silent again, as if the world itself did not dare to breath. Quickly the vision of the crowd began to adjust and in this silence they heard the crunch of earth being displaced as something moved in the uneven soil of the crater.

Their vision finally cleared, and the last of the smoke dissipated, they all saw just what Louise had called forth with her unusual spell.

She had summoned a human.

The person stood there immobile, her gauntlet wearing hands resting on the pommel of a sword stuck in the disturbed soil of the crater. Where others were covered in dark soot and dust, she stood pristine and immaculate, untouched by the spells devastation. She was of slight stature, perhaps an inch or two taller than Louise herself, perhaps not. The swordswoman was wearing armor consisting of a breastplate, gauntlets, greaves and plates attached to a billowing skirt of a deep blue. The armor gleamed like silver in the light of the sun, and all could easily see that it was intricately embossed with several deep blue runes on the breastplate. The sword shone with a golden sheen and it too was intricately enameled and inscribed with runes. Her hair was the color of gold and it framed her beautiful alabaster face prettily, tied up in an elaborate braided bun at the back of her head. The girls, no, the knights, eyes were a bright green that shone like emeralds. All of these characteristics were striking and imposing. Such elegance and perfection was like watching a legend of the Founders time standing amongst them; a heroine from an age gone six thousand years.

But the most amazing thing about the short girl was not her beauty, nor her armor, nor her sword, nor her deep blue dress, nor her cold yet beautiful eyes.

It was the power of her presence, her very bearing. Though all those gathered for the summoning ritual were nobles, none of the young students had mastered the art of command, the capacity to rule. They were, after all, school children who did not yet have to deal with the intricacies of their inherited title and power. Their parents ran the family estates. It would be decades still before any of them could actually enforce their claim to nobility. However, they all could tell from the way the stranger held herself: here was someone who bore the mantle of nobility like a second skin. A woman who, despite being shorter than the majority of those gathered for the rite, held herself like a giant. Someone used to giving orders and being obeyed, sometimes with nothing more than a cold glance or a single word. Struggling to define this characteristic, more than one young mind arrived at the same word to describe the stranger: regal.

They were standing in the presence of royalty, they realized.

Louise had summoned a warrior queen from out of legend.

The queens cold emerald eyes slowly ran over those assembled before her, taking in their features, their dress and, most importantly in the thoughts of some, their unkempt state. With a startled squawk, more than one student fell to one knee as her eyes locked with theirs while others attempted to dust themselves off in an attempt to regain a measure of dignity in the presence of royalty. Many lowered their heads, unable to meet that piercing emerald gaze.

Finally, her eyes locked with Louise and she felt herself freeze, transfixed by the icy green eyes. She felt herself naked in the presence of that penetrating gaze. Sweat was pouring down her brow and her breathing was ragged. She wanted to do nothing more than look away and hide in shame, but the queens gaze would not let her move. She was paralyzed, she realized, by the sheer force of her presence. Her thoughts, however, were racing frantically.

"I am going to be executed," she thought desperately, "My stupid spell summoned a queen and I'm going to get killed for overstepping my bounds."

After what seemed like an eternity of being petrified in place by the queens unrelenting eyes, the spell was finally broken as the blonde nodded her head. She seemed to have to arrived at a decision. It was time to pass sentence and Louise despaired at the thought. The queen did not seem to notice the young noble girls increasing distress as she spoke, in a voice that somehow managed to be both melodic and dispassionate, and said:

"Upon your summoning, I have come forth. I ask of you: are you my Master?"

Louise blinked. Her mind tried to process what she had just heard and failed. She tried again and achieved better results the second time. This warrior, this queen, was agreeing to become her familiar? She was asking for her to acknowledge her as her master? The crowd arrived at this same conclusion and more than one person gaped openly at this development as Louise froze again and did not reply. This seemed to displease the warrior queen as her exquisite features reflected a small measure of annoyance. Again, she repeated the same words:

"Upon your summoning, I have come forth. I ask of you: are you my Master?"

The exhaustion of having gone without sleep while studying a new spell and the shock of her summoning actually working on the first try were finally too much for Louise's mind to take. At this point she had only one reply for the summoned queen.

Louise fainted.

The crowd of students could not even gasp before the golden haired queen moved like a gust of wind. The pink haired girl herself didn't even have a chance to finish falling prone before her unconscious body was in the gauntleted grip of the armored woman.

"Master!" she called out desperately, causing a shudder to course through the gathered students, "Are you alright, Master?" Quickly, the knight queen checked the slightly smaller girl for external wounds and found none at all. She was, however, able to note the pale sheen to her face and the dark bags under the closed eyes of the smaller pink haired girl. "Exhaustion?" the blonde said incredulously, "She fainted from exhaustion?"

The queen once again raised her eyes to the crowd gathered around her, however, this time her eyes were concerned and with a hint of restrained anger. Her eyes found the oldest of the group, Professor Colbert, and then they narrowed. The Professor gulped nervously.

"Ah... um... miss... no, that is... err... your majesty?" he stuttered in shock. Normally, Jean Colbert was not the sort of man to be shaken by anything, but the events of this morning were not exactly anything he had experience with before. It's not every day that a student summons royalty and then said royal turns to you with an icy gaze like a drawn sword.

That the short blonde was not his monarch and that there was no danger of being peremptorily executed did not cross his mind at this moment. It was that sort of situation.

"You there," the queen in blue said in a voice like ice before he got a chance to bite his own tongue while stuttering, "which way to an infirmary?" The blonde was carrying Louise easily in her arms despite the fact that they were almost of the same height. Wordlessly, Colbert and the gathered students pointed towards the Water Tower of the distant school castle. The blonde followed their movement with her gaze and without another wasted word, leapt towards the distant towers.

Her movement took her nearly the entire distance to the tower and left a tearing, hurricane like wind that forced the crowd to shield their faces with their arms. The students and the professors were not entirely unfamiliar with the use of wind magic to increase ones movement speed, to fly, or to leap great distances, but to leave behind such a powerful wake without the need for even an incantation left no doubt in their mind: the person Louise had summoned was a wind using royal.

And she had accepted Louise as her Master.

"Well... I would say that's fairly more impressive than a salamander, don't you think?"

"...Shut up, Guiche."

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><p>Zero no Tsukaima is the property of Noboru Yamaguchi and Media Factory.<p>

Fate/Stay Night is the property of TYPE-MOON

I claim no ownership of the characters featured in this story. This is a work of fan-fiction.


	5. Heart of Battle

A long, long time (a few months ago) a certain Froggie was browsing the vastness of the internet. In this internet, the Froggie found a story by a certain author and it was called The Hill of Swords by Gabriel Blessing. Despite it's faults, the Froggie very much liked the story so the Froggie sought out other people that had also liked the story. The Froggie found a certain forum where certain other people had also liked the story and there they discussed various ideas about different stories where a certain petite tsundere mage summoned different familiars. The Froggie liked the concept and so the Froggie wrote various snippets and chose to follow through on one and turn it into the story.

But what happened to the snippets that didn't become stories?

* * *

><p>There was an explosion and much coughing involved when Louise finally managed to succeed in her summoning spell.<p>

That she managed to succeed at all was surprising in and of itself, but what was truly amazing was the figure that appeared within the rapidly dissipating smoke.

The man that stood barefoot before the gathered crowd was of average height and powerfully muscled. His skin, which might have once been fair, was swarthy from long exposure to the sun. He had black hair, a complete rarity in Halkegenia, and foreign features dominated by peculiar eyes. The strange, sleeveless tunic that he wore was simplistic and somewhat raggedy. The young student's might have confused him for a strange beggar or a very poor farmer except for one very important detail.

The man's powerful arms were held close to his chest and waist while his legs were spread slightly apart. He stood perfectly balanced, poised to react at the slightest movement.

The strange man, even though he was unarmed, carried himself like a warrior about to enter battle.

Despite this, however, the man soon relaxed and the jeering started in earnest. Shouted insults and taunts were flung mercilessly and it was a seething Louise that completed the familiar contract.

The man accepted it all stoically.

{D)

Louise woke up to find that her familiar was missing. She frantically looked for the strange man everywhere, avoiding the rest of the student body so that they could not mock the untalented Zero who could not even keep her beggar familiar in line.

She found him in the fields were the summoning ritual had taken place and her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at what she saw.

Her familiar was... she could not find the words to properly describe it.

It was something akin to watching a human whirlwind in motion. A beautiful and violent dance of power as he punched and kicked at imaginary foes. Muscles rippled and sweat poured over his brow and body as he continued to assault the air with fists and feet as if Louise had not suddenly arrived.

His eyes were facing ever forward, his face perfectly impassive.

{D)

Guiche de Gramont's life was never in any danger, but the young fop had to spend an entire month in the infirmary after his ill fated duel.

{D)

Louise could scarcely believe her eyes as the enormous golem was completely obliterated in a single attack.

"Teach me," was all that the tiny noble girl could manage to say.

{D)

It had been brutal, it had been painful, it had been long and arduous. But she had endured. She had thrown herself into the training with all that she had, studying and practicing as feverishly as she ever had before. And her dedication had paid off in spades. She was no longer Louise the Zero, but she cared little for what others called her now. All that she cared about was... improving. And she had finally arrived at the zenith of her training. Her familiar, no... her teacher had said she was prepared at last.

"It feels like..." she hunted for a word to express the strange sensation coursing through her skin as she stood at the ready. She found the word and spoke, "Electricity. It feels like electricity."

He nodded at her and a small smile crossed his face. Louise knew now, that he was guarded with his emotions. The small smile meant that he was actually beaming with pride, and she felt that same emotion well up in her chest as well.

"Do you think you can do it?" he asked.

She shook her head at those words and smiled wryly.

"You taught me not to 'think' I can but to 'know' I can, teacher," she said smugly, her eyes twinkling. "I can do it!"

He nodded again and now his face was somber. He didn't have to say anything else. It was time to demonstrate the fruits of her training.

Louise took several deep breaths and centered herself. She cupped her small hands, once soft and supple and now calloused and rough, at the height of her waist.

She concentrated and she felt it gathering.

Electricity on her skin.

She could do it.

**"HADOKEN!"**

* * *

><p>Zero no Tsukaima is the property of Noboru Yamaguchi and Media Factory.<p>

Street Fighter is the property of Capcom

I claim no ownership of the characters featured in this story. This is a work of fan-fiction.

* * *

><p>Author's notes: I know this is supposed to be complete, but what can I say? Inspiration struck a sudden and decisive blow. The thing practically wrote itself.<strong><br>**


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